Phoenix in Arizona
by Artemis Halenthal
Summary: Rene Ward and Craig Boone are now declared damned memories of the Legion. It wasn't long until they found themselves being drawn to the center of their problems by a New Canaanite who took it upon himself to avoid the Legion, but is now leading the damned memories into Arizona, where the fire and brimstone await.
1. Principio

(Small Author's Note here: Eli is the character that Augustinian Frog contributed to this collaboration work between him and I. Enjoy!)

Phoenix in Arizona  
{Prologue}

The winds scorched across the land as they usually did during the day, holding each of the Mojave's travelers as hostages against the wild elements. Boone wiped sweat from his brow, needing the solace of a purified bottle of water at this point. As his feet carried him, it felt like he was walking in fire, dragging Rene along on this hell trip with him. He was seeking out another Legion encampment at this point, feeling the need to take one more down, just so he could feel a little bit more at peace, to keep himself from wearing down emotionally. He knew it was stupid to travel out in the heat like this, no matter what month it was- whether it is December or in the middle of June.

Rene looked around, Vegas in the far-off distance. It was almost like it seemed like a dream, how far away they were from the city, how they were possibly even leaving the southern tip of Nevada and crossing into completely unknown territory. It was an adventure to be held, and Rene almost wanted to deliberately lead them from the Mojave and into Utah or some surrounding state. But in the brash heat, that nearly wasn't an option, and they were already looking for a Legion camp. She could take Boone to Arizona; tell him about Flagstaff, and how it was their capital. But that would be a bad idea due to the fact he was already suicidal and wanted to kill as many Legionnaires as possible.

Looking towards Vegas in the distance, Boone saw nothing but the heat waves bouncing off the city. Just a reminder the Mojave was a damnable hellhole. He wanted nothing more than to have the blood of the Legion across his face, to pile their bodies upon each other and set fire to the mountain of evil. It would solve all of his problems.

"Rene, where the fuck is this camp you mentioned? I can't bear this heat any longer-", Boone commented but was ultimately interrupted by the crack of gunfire, and Rene doubling over with pain, clutching her side as she fell to her knees. Boone threw his attention forward, moving back towards Rene and pulling out his rifle as quick as he could and fire rounds into the Legionnaire Assassins' skulls, starting his pile with the few souls that dared to challenge him. He took a few rounds in the shoulder and obtained a flesh wound in his side. Rene stumbled to her feet, roughly grabbing the rifle from Boone's hands and fire faster than he did, warding off the attackers and killing each one with the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her bloodstream. Boone stared at her with disbelief and he grabbed her up and took her away from the point of attack.

"You're crazy…" He grumbled, pulling the bullet out of her side. Rene shrieked with pain, and Boone shushed her by holding a bloody hand to her mouth.

"Hey, stop whining, you've been through this before", Boone smirked to keep her from making loud noises, just in case if the Legion decided to return with yet another hit squad to keep them busy. Rene gently dug her fingers into his shoulder, pulling out a bullet that was rather deep. He grimaced in pain, holding in his breath.

"Feels like shit, huh?"

"You should be thanking me, Rene. This isn't the first time I've saved your ass."

Rene shook her head, and sat up, reaching for her pack to bring out a Stimpack and some sutures. She hated stitches, and the scar between her breasts was just there to prove her point. It was long and ragged, like how her past had been with Boone. Taking tweezers from her pack as well, she pulled more bullets from his shoulder, which caused Boone to grab her arm tightly.

"That's going to leave a bruise. Stop", she sighed, pulling the final bullet from his shoulder and giving him a stimpack. For a moment's time, he felt adrenaline rush through him and the sensation of pain escaped his body completely. Letting go of Rene's arm, it left a red mark.

Footsteps were approaching rapidly, and Boone stood, his rifle in hand and pointed directly at a traveler, who looked like he was beaten down by the Mojave as well. He wasn't the first one, either.

**"**Need help?" the man asked nonchalantly.

If it weren't for his white collared shirt, the man's khaki colored pants and desert military cap would have made him simply blend into the sands. Boone glanced once at his scoped carbine, that alone made the man a danger.

**"**I think we've got ourselves covered." Boone replied.

**"**Well neither of you are passed out from blood loss so I'll have to grant you that much for now. Now, I should ask; what did you two do to piss off the Legionaries? I first spotted you two from up on that small mesa back there. There's got to be at least four kill teams converging on your location. Though I see you took care of one of them." the stranger murmured, noticing the dead bodies.

**"**There's three more." Rene murmured.

**"**We were responsible for blowing up Fortification Hill back at Hoover Dam." Boone explained stoically.

The stranger's gray eyes went wide with realization.

**"**Shoot. That means these guys mean business..." he began pacing the sands as Rene and Boone watched him in wry curiosity.

**"**You got at least two more teams coming from that side." the man explained, pointing in one direction.

**"**I'm going to go this way. Maybe I can distract that last team from finding you."

The stranger was already huffing and puffing away before either could ask any more questions from him.

"Quick one, isn't he?" Boone commented silently.

Rene stood, her side aching and still unsutured, and moved to get set up for the oncoming attack that was meant for them. She only hoped Boone wouldn't try anything irrational at this point because he knew all of these Legionnaires were coming after them- specifically. And she hoped the kind stranger wouldn't get himself killed at their expense. The only people hitting the ground today were the Legionnaires that wanted them dead for doing the Mojave justice, and it was insane how far they had tracked them out, to the top of the southern tip of Nevada.

Boone heard the Legionnaires kicking dirt towards them, filing themselves in a neat organization as they came near. He pulled his rifle and automatically downed a Recruit Prime, not even stopping the Legionnaire's line of succession. Bitter Springs wasn't even the real challenge- it was this, the destruction of the Fort and the repercussions to follow them out of the Legion's grasp.

"Rene! Get moving, now!" Boone yelled over the gunfire, moving his eyes to the limping girl for a moment. She had her pistol in hand and was firing wildly upon their assailants, and the man who had approached them earlier seemed to be helping them fend off the squads of Legion. Blood spattered the sand as bullets hit the kneecaps of the Legionnaires, disabling only a few of the squad that was pressing against Boone. If he gave Rene a rifle, she'd be a hell of a crack shot. But there was no time to line up and take aim in the battlefield… unless you were perched somewhere high. Tracking the targets carefully, he caught one more in the chest, causing one of his lungs to collapse.

Rene moved herself over to the Legionnaires that lie within the sand, unmoving but still breathing. Kicking one over with her good side, she shot him within the head twice and went through the same process with the Decanus and Vexillarius. She looked back towards the man with the Carbine, who seemed to have no trouble with the Decanii the Legion threw at him. But this whole skirmish perplexed her.

Who ordered the attack?

Lanius was dead. Caesar was dead. Vulpes was dead, and everyone in the line of succession was killed off. There may have camps they missed, but no one would hold the required rank to give such an order, would they? It was unbelieveable… here Boone and Rene were moving through the new Roman Republic like chem-overdosed Visigoths, yet, they still had oppression against them from the Legion. Finally understanding, Rene finally removed her mental block and sighed, standing like a sitting duck in the middle of the battlefield as she remembered there was still Flagstaff, Arizona. They had to hit home before the terror could end.

"We have to go to Arizona!", she yelled with excitement as Boone dropped a Legionnaire who had his arm held back in full-swing that would taken Rene's head off by the sharp machete in hand. Rene promptly looked behind her, and saw another wave. Just one more.

Boone and the man who hadn't introduced himself yet charged towards her, guns in hand as they started firing behind her. The man's calculations weren't correct as he had assumed, the last team was coming from the south and not the north as they must've originally planned. Rene turned and started firing as well, slaughtering their legs and mangling any limbs that were exposed and un-armored. It caught quite a few and sent them rolling in the dirt, but there were two more- a Centurion and a Vexillarius that looked quite upset at the carnage upon Boone, Rene, and the still unknown aid to their cause. Shaking his head, Boone placed a bullet between both of their eyes.

"That was taking too long, Rene… finish them off", Boone sighed.

Turning to the man who Boone warranted answers from, the raucous sounds of gunfire echoed.

"Who're you?"

"Eli, and you?"

"What is your name?"

"Just call me Eli. Elijah if you're feeling formal but I always preferred 'Eli' myself. It's better that no one knows my last name." Eli murmured.

"Are you a fugitive?" Boone asked.

"Sure, though my crime is simply existing." Eli shrugged, purposefully trying to be elusive.

"Boone, we have to go to Arizona." Rene repeated, walking up to the sniper who was still scrutinizing Eli.

"Have to? Considering what you two did, I don't think they'll be rolling out the welcome mat for you down in Arizona." Eli shook his head.

"It's the only way to stop this." Rene asserted.

Eli gazed out into the sands for a moment before looking back at them.

"You'll need help. I can hold my own in a firefight but I'm a better medic and I know a bit of tribal medicine. Though that's only if you two agree." Eli shrugged.

"You? You're just offering to help? Why would you do that?" Boone demanded.

"Well, I don't think I can persuade you both to turn around from something so suicidal and it's not like I'm doing anything smarter...or better for that matter. Death is not what I fear, I only fear stepping before my Creator and being told of yet one more good I left undone compared to all the evils I willingly did." Eli replied meekly.

For a moment, the only sound was that of the endless Mojave wind.

"...Well, I at least assume you two are up to doing good. I don't suspect you're just going to go all the way to Arizona to carry out petty vandalism. That would still probably be a good deed, though. The Legion never struck me as the best people in matters of decor." Eli murmured thoughtfully.

Rene offered a kind smile at Elijah, but Boone still looked wary of him, and was tempted to just make Rene thank the man and move on instead of being infatuated with the idea of having a trio, taking down the Legion and gaining glory and fame. This was their mission, meant for only two people, meant for the glory of Rene and possibly Boone's escape from the world. He wanted to let Elijah know this was for Rene, and for Carla.

"Boone… we could use an extra doctor around. I mean, it'd be awesome, because we don't have to worry about dying as much, right?" Rene looked up into Boone's shaded eyes and smiled. The same smile that made everyone late for church as she passed by. It made Boone flustered, and he couldn't help but agree with her. Sighing derisively, Boone folded his arms across his chest.

"Fine. Come along if you want, but if you die, it's not either of our faults and you will be promptly relieved of any equipment you're carrying. If you're lucky, Rene will have time to bury you and say a couple prayers."

Rene kept herself from grinning like an idiot, and kept her lips pursed in a happy smile. Another person was always welcome, and she loved making friends. So far, she had the NCR, Boone, and it wouldn't hurt to add Elijah to her list of friends she was keeping… she just loved people in general, but hated the Legion with that tiny burning coal of hatred inside her big heart.


	2. Inceptum

Phoenix in Arizona

{Chapter Two}

This scene was becoming all too familiar at this point. The problem was that the scenery just kept getting more and more ridiculous. It was one thing to watch Eli make his meandering scavenging forays out in the desert.

Now, they were in a peculiar place Eli explained had once been a "library."

"What are you looking for in here again?" Rene asked, gazing at the ruined shelves stuffed full of rotted tomes.

"A book if we're lucky. Several if we're not." Eli replied.

"They seem to be all around us." Boone commented, his voice showing that his patience was being tried.

"Not just any old book. If you're bored go wait outside, talk or do something. This might take awhile as all the labels have disappeared." the New Canaanite complained.

Rene peered at the shelves. While she did have some intelligence, she wasn't as smart as Eli seemed to be. Picking up a slightly scorched book, she opened it and attempted to read the words that crossed the page. Her mind tried to make sense of some of the lettering that scrolled the pages.

"Hey… Boone, what's this say?" Rene asked, showing the book to Boone. He looked at the cover, not being able to make sense of the ruined and warped covering of the book. Reading an excerpt from the page, Boone sat on an old and decrepit table.

"Er… it says 'Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice, 'without pictures or conversations?', Boone read. It seemed like a very peculiar book, and he continued to silently read. Rene looked at him, almost as if she was expected something.

"Aren't you going to read to me?"

"Read to you? This isn't storytime, Rene. Not yet.." Boone mumbled.

"Can you teach me to read?" Rene asked, looking a little hopeful. Boone sighed, cracking a rare and small smile.

"I thought the Legion would've educated you in at least Latin and Standard English?"

"….They don't teach women. They don't believe in it, I don't think…"

"Ah! A copy of the Inferno! Hmph, seems that only Purgatory hasn't rotted away. Pity, that would have been a good read." Eli grumped in the background.

Boone just sat, reading the book he had found before eventually becoming bored with the thing. Rene had decided to mill around the library, trying to find a good book to attempt to read. Her eyes scanned around the dust, coming up empty-handed. Looking perturbed, she sighed and sat on the ground, bringing her knees to her chest as she always did.

"Hmmm, the entire book has been destroyed except the title. Tell me, how could anyone write this much on how to kill a mockingbird?" Eli puzzled loudly.

"I heard it's a classic by this guy named… er, I forget. But it was a classic that Colonel Hsu talked about a lot", Boone commented.

"Aha!" Eli cried in triumph.

Curious, Rene and Boone made their way over to where Eli had set up shop on an ancient table. Apparently, Eli had been intent on finding more than just one book since several were piled up on the table and opened to specific places. When Rene spied them she at first thought she was only looking at odd shapes and lines. Eli highlighted one spot and then traced one particular line.

"In ye olde days when cars could run, we could go down 93 south and east and it would have brought us directly to Flagstaff." Eli showed.

"There's no reason to believe it couldn't do the same today. We'd just have to walk." Boone replied.

"Sure. If you want to fight through crowds of Legionaries who have undoubtedly set up shop all along the road. Also, there was a military depot along the way just before Flagstaff. I have no interest in fighting through a stockpile of Old World military tech and weapons. There's another route, less direct but more creative and probably safer." Eli offered, hoping they'd find it.

He waited a moment before pointing out a completely different route.

"The Magnus Chasma as prescribed on a Legion silver. It will provide water, cover and a less watched route than the Legion roads." Eli offered.

"It doesn't lead directly to Flagstaff." Boone said, studying the map.

"No, but it does lead to what had once been the Grand Canyon National Park. We travel at night, avoid the day and the heaviest of traffic. Once we end up there, it's a matter of sneaking south and east and then there's no mistaking Flagstaff."

Rene tried to make sense of the lines she saw.

"Boone, what's a car?" Rene asked, intrigued by the term. Maybe it was some sort of machine. That flew.

"We're going to have to switch traveling habits. I know you two find it dangerous to travel at night but the heat is less intense and we'll have the cover of the canyon and the Legion will be less diligent after sunset. We'll have to prepare for nightstalkers and I figured the scorpions were always more active at night. Hmmm..." Eli rambled while sorting through piles of books.

"Is there no other way?" Boone asked. It was one thing trying to avoid the Legion patrols but only having to deal with the worst of the nightmares that came out at night?

"I suppose we could be able to work a compromise out. Besides, Lord knows what the ecosystem might be like in the Grand Canyon. I don't know, could be Death Lurks in there or something...We'll figure something out." Eli shrugged, already losing interest in the topic and was searching through the other books.

Finding a large map that greatly detailed the contours of the Grand Canyon, Eli put it away for use later as well as one of the books that had a larger map of the Arizona area and its roads. It would have to do. He was not ready to leave a place that promised to have some good book hiding somewhere so he pretended to keep researching.

"Hey, Boone." Eli waved the sniper over.

No sooner had the sniper come up to the man, he had a book placed in his hands.

"It's mostly intact save for the title page so I couldn't tell you what it was called but the table of contents says as much. It appears to be short biographies on historical heroes. More specifically, Rene might be particularly interested in Queen Boadicea, Joan of Arc and Augustina of Aragon. All three of them apparently fought for their people against an overlord, Boadicea herself rebelled against the real Romans back in the day."

"You think this is a good idea?" Boone questioned.

"Why not? She just told you she wanted to learn how to read. She'd probably prefer you to teaching than me and you know her better than I do. Besides, if she doesn't like it then I'll read it. Lord knows you two would probably prefer I stopped yapping at times."

Boone took it. He sighed with a grumble as he usually did.

"Yeah, it would be nice to hear you stop talking so much…", he smirked lightly.

"I also heard her the other night. Of course she'll prefer me over you teaching- apparently, I mean a lot", Boone ended the conversation with Eli.

He did need to stop talking so much, Boone thought. It also wouldn't hurt to help Rene learn how to read so she doesn't ask me every five minutes about what a roadsign said or something of the sort. But I don't mind, most of the time.

Rene sat on the table, curled up as usual. Her head turned to Boone as she heard him approaching; only catching snippets of their conversation that lasted a couple minutes- a new record for Boone. She held herself tighter than usual, her face flushed with heat.

"Here. I'll try and help you, but no promises", Boone grumbled slightly. He handed the book to Rene.

"What's it called?"

"I dunno- but apparently, Eli was reminded of you when he skimmed through the book. It's about women who fought for their people", Boone informed her. He looked upon her warpaint and locks of hair that seemed permanently twisted into braids of a sort.

"I guess, you fight for your people, too."

"I… fight for them. Yeah. Because I love them, and I love everyone here in this room. Because… uh, I do. You're nice. Eli's nice. And I guess we're like a family", Rene told Boone of her opinion on their group. He withheld any emotion, as usual. Rene had her way of putting things but never once had he saw Eli as 'family'- maybe Rene, as they had traveled for a year and one half together, but Eli… he was just a suspicious character.

On the second floor of the library part of the ceiling had caved away, forming an impromptu balcony. Sitting crossed legged, Eli was fishing out just one additional book for the journey. Still, it was the words of another book that was echoing in his mind.

"Wisdom is better than weapons of war but one sinner destroys much good..."

Now was a lousy time to start considering the ethics of what they were about to do. Still, it got him to wondering if maybe, just maybe, there was a better way to do this. Could the remaining overlords at Flagstaff be persuaded to give up this madness? Maybe, but these days people usually settled disputes with bullets and blades.

The verse he remembered came from a book that decried the futility of life, the importance of doing what was right and abhorring evil even if life was a fleeting moment eager to rejoin the dust from whence it came.

He looked back inside where Rene and Boone were. It was one thing when he was just watching himself but now he would be responsible for those two. He could just turn around, tell them they'd have to find their own way and that he was not interested in the venture. They've survived similar, if they feel this strongly about it they would be going there irregardless of whether or not they happened upon me...and probably would end up killing a lot more of the Legion along the way...or get killed themselves.

"But do they all deserve to die?" he murmured to himself.

A dark voice within him reminded him of New Canaan. Far less had been slaughtered for even lesser reasons.

"But I am not them, nor will I be."

It became startling clear in that moment. He had to make sure Boone and Rene did not needlessly die...or anyone else for that matter. No, the Legion did not deserve mercy but was not sure there were many people under this blistering sun who did. He certainly didn't see himself entitled to it. There was no getting around it. There would be death but was there a chance to make sure not one more person died than was necessary? Eli shook his head.

"You're a fool, Eli, but these sands have drunk too much blood already."

Rene sat pondering, her mind doing flips with her thoughts that she wanted to keep still, that she wanted to clear her head of. It was giving her a headache to not be able to keep her mind focused upon the greater reality of combat, and how she would keep Eli and Boone alive. How she would try and let them live to the end- and farther beyond.

Rene didn't want to ever hurt Eli or Boone, but Eli was on his own 'redemption quest' or something noble and Boone... well, was Boone. Mindless slaughter of the Legion made him happy, and she was okay with that. And Rene… well, Rene was almost killing the Legion for what they had done to her tribe.

Almost.

Oh, how much she would enjoy crucifying them along Interstate 40. How she would love to see them rot in the sun, boiling under the immense heat. And whoever was the current leader at Flagstaff? She'd crucify him, and set the cross on fire while sending it sailing over the Grand Canyon. She'd like to see him suffer as he made a descent into his own pit of hell. That, or she'd eat him alive.

Boone watched Rene sit in complete silence for over 10 minutes. He was wondering how the peace in the air came to be for about 15 minutes before that, but finally found Rene, curled up as she usually sat.

"That's going to hurt your back, Rene."

"I'm going to rip the spines from the Legionnaires. Maybe I can get a new one."


	3. In Somnus

Phoenix in Arizona

(Chapter Four)

Rene was still soundly sleeping when Boone rose from his sleep. Eli was dutifully keeping his watch, eyes gazing off into the horizon with his firearm casually cradled in his grasp. Boone could see that the sun was just barely beginning to peek over the horizon. It was not hot yet but soon the heat of the Mojave sun would begin to smother them.

"Sleep well?" Eli asked cordially.

"Yeah." Boone said with a sigh.

It was all Eli could do not to roll his eyes. The New Canaanite understood that Boone had been through a lot. He would never disrespect that. Still, he sometimes wondered how the sniper could stand being so bloody melancholy all the time.

Eli squinted at something off in the horizon for a moment.

"I need to check on something for a moment. Can you watch the girl and yourself?" he asked.

"I can." Boone replied, standing up.

Boone watched Eli as he started off in a quick trot but decided that was just his usual manner. Having stretched, Boone began to check to make sure his rifle was in working order. The gun had certainly seen better days but it got the job done and he was familiar with every little detail and quirk about it. If you wanted to drop your target's head from a few hundred yards, you needed to know your rifle.

Rene woke with a yelp when a thunderous explosion rocked the ground. Boone was immediately up and his rifle shouldered when the crack of gunfire hit their ears shortly thereafter. Rene glanced up at the NCR soldier as rounds continued to boom in the background. It took a moment for both Rene and Boone to realize that the gunfire they were hearing was in fact Eli's rifle.

The gunfire ended just as suddenly as it had begun. Boone and Rene were already at a rapid trot to find their wayward companion. For his part, Boone was not expecting to find anything pretty and kept his rifle on hand just to be sure.

What they found was...unexpected.

They came upon Eli casually lounging on a rock overlooking the mangled body of a decanus, Eli's knife buried deep in the dying legionnaire's chest. The New Canaanite was wrapping bandages around a wound on his forearm but as he did that he carried on in what seemed to be a lively discussion with the dying man.

"...So are you sure? That's the reason why you're so determined to kill those two?" Eli demanded.

"The will of Caesar...will be...carried out." the decanus groaned.

"Sure, sure but you got to understand, there's just some things Caesar can't control because let's be honest, he was just a man. Ah, and here's the two you have been so dead set on killing. You should really meet them in person. The one with the red beret is Craig Boone and he's not so bad once you get to know him. The young girl is Rene. That little thing is what has caused your Legion so much trouble, a regular Joan of Arc she is." Eli chuckled.

The dying legionnaire growled in his death throes.

"One last thing. There are a few more names you should hear. The Malpais Legate and the Burned Man, the names both given by Caesar to the man called Joshua Graham..." Eli said condemningly.

The Decanus glared at him in pure hatred.

"He came from New Canaan, the place I knew as home. You couldn't wipe that place away and till the day I die, I will make sure the world knows of your failure." Eli murmured as his enemy breathed his last.

Eli retrieved his knife and hopped to his feet to greet Rene and Boone.

"I got the answers I was looking for. You two just don't have any death order on your heads. You've both been condemned to Damnatio Memoraie. You're both condemned memories, history that never happened. The Legion will stop at nothing to eradicate any evidence you two existed at all." Eli explained.

"I guess we really pissed them off." Boone murmured.

"Sure, but if you really want to do something about it, keep living. Trust me, I know." murmured before walking back towards the road leaving Boone and Rene to their thoughts. This time, the New Canaanite could offer no off hand remarks to lighten the mood.

Rene played the Legion words over in her head, wanting to wish the Legion never existed in the first place. Nobody wanted to let the Legion exist in the first place, but if they didn't something most likely worse would have taken its place, and the NCR wouldn't even be able to defend itself. At least it the Enclave wasn't breathing still- or at least, not anywhere close to the Mojave. Trying to brush out the sand and tangles from her long brown hair, Rene only wished they could teleport to Arizona, and kick the Legion's asses. For her, she wouldn't mind playing matador with the Bull once more.

"Is this what you wanted?" Rene asked Boone cautiously. He always talked about wanting to go after the Legion, even after they had destroyed The Fort and The Legate's camp- each one with everyone in it- and they started eradicating slaving parties and go after every single damn Legionnaire they could.. even the Prisoners of War.

"What do you mean?"

"You talked about going after the Legion. You also said that you wanted them to come after you… is this what you wanted?"

Boone sighed, and looked perplexed at her question this point. Rene ever rarely asked him questions like this.

"Wasn't it a little idealistic?"

"Don't ever say that again", Boone said, poison filling his words. He didn't mean for it to come out like that as it did… but Rene, being the person she is, just frowned and continued walking alongside him, trying to comb out the sand in her hair and scalp. He offered to cut her hair once, but she took it as an insult.

"I mean, it was hard, because you helped me. So I wanted to give you what you wanted, so you can be happy. I mean, if you're not happy and you just don't smile a lot and your smiles are frowns".

Eli held his breath to keep from chuckling at the last part of Rene's attempt to reach an understanding between the two. The pent up laugh was quickly dissolved, however and he just continued walking, seeming to drift in the same direction as everyone else.

"But now, I'm not sure if I helped you, or if I betrayed you, due to the danger we're carrying now."

"Do you two have loved ones or families? Is there a place you both call home?" Eli asked them.

Rene and Boone thought about that for a moment. Everything they had was either gone or left behind. The Twisted Hairs were consigned to history for Rene and Boone had all but left a quickly disappearing trail since he signed up into the NCR military.

"I take that silence as a no. Sad, but probably for the best. You two know what you're up against. It's those that have known you that you should worry about." Eli warned.

"What did you do to be declared Damnatio Memoriae?" Rene asked.

"Me? Nothing. It was one of my tribe who committed the sin and New Canaan was simply collateral damage. Given the chance, if I had done something to warrant Caesar's wrath, I probably would have told him that Rome already fell once and did it so well that there was no reason to practice it a second time." Eli shrugged.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Boone snapped.

"No, I take medicine and God very seriously though I do believe the Maker also has a sense of humor."

Boone and Rene gave him wry looks.

"Well just look at me! I wandered this far away from New Canaan only to bump into you two and what do you two want to do? Drag me even further closer to the place that wants me, and you two, wiped off of memory. The three of us living middle fingers to the Bull." the New Canaanite shrugged.

"You are a very strange man." Boone declared.

"Thank God. Have you seen most of the people out here? We do need a couple different people every now and then to keep things interesting."

Boone shook his head realizing he was not getting anywhere.

"But really, Boone, life is a gift and you of all people should know how quickly it can be whisked away. We are all just a few centimeters from death, six liters from exsanguination and four minutes away from suffocation. Life should be approached with seriousness but lived with joy. Besides, it's not like anyone misses out on dying. There's plenty of time to be grave in the grave. Ha! I amuse myself sometimes."

"Keep amusing yourself, we've got pressing matters to attend to", Boone snapped towards Eli. He didn't enjoy all of his joking but he did have to admit that it provided something to listen to than his droning thoughts that filled his mind daily. It was kind of stupid how he joked though, Boone was tempted to knock his teeth down his throat.

Sighing, Boone let Eli's humor drip into his head and let it sound out the sound of the wind that blew past his ears. Rene still seemed to be struggling with her hair, and all this fidgeting was bothering him. Boone had no idea why he was so hyper-sensitive to everything all of a sudden, and it scared him just a little bit.

Rene turned to Eli, her hands stuck within her knotted hair.

"You got any scissors? I…. I need to cut my hair off. Just a little bit, I think…", she stammered, hoping he'd turn up with a brush instead. Cutting her hair would mean cutting her history into nothing, once more. Rene tried dragging her fingers though her hair once again, but eventually gave up. Letting her fingers reach up once more, Boone gently placed his hand on hers and kept it from messing her hair up any further.

"I told you I could cut your hair, but you said no. See where it's got you now?"

"Well, it grew since the last time you offered..", she pouted slightly, tossing her waist-length hair across her shoulder. She wrapped it around herself like a scarf and Boone shook his head again.

"It's going to get even more tangled now."

"…It won't stay tangled forever, right?"

"Maybe it will if you keep messing with it."

Rene looked horrified and quickly tossed it over her shoulder again.

Eli shifted his eyebrows and gazed into the sky for a moment as if sorting through some of the dusty corners of his mind. There was something useful in there but he wasn't quite sure where he left it. He smiled in happy triumph when he found the data he was looking for.

Boone and Rene once again shot him quizzical looks as they saw him trot off for a bit only to return whittling down some cactus fruit. He'd place those in his pack and continue to fall in pace behind them. However, in a few minutes he would do the same thing, wandering off to scavenge yet another item, usually a fruit of some kind though at one point they heard a short scuffle off in the distance and he came back carrying the arms of what once belonged to a giant mantis.

Eli never explained what he was up to and Rene and Boone decided not to ask. If the man wanted to go on his own personal easter egg hunt, so long as he didn't blow himself or them up, they wouldn't care.

It didn't come altogether, literally, until that evening when they found him determinedly mashing and mixing everything he had gathered from the day. From what Rene could tell, there were several kind of plant juices in there and maybe some of the insides of a mantis. She was starting to wonder if this was some sort of ridiculous soup the man liked. That was her running theory up until he drained the contents into an empty bottle he found.

The corked bottle with the mystery fluids was abruptly tossed into her lap.

"What is this?" Rene demanded.

"Tribal remedy." Eli shrugged.

"For what? I'm not sick." she replied.

"Many tribes place an emphasis on styling their hair in various ways. One group concocted a mixture to promote healthy hair...and prevent tangles. This will help until you salvage a proper brush out in the wastes. I believe it's called 'conditioner.'" Eli explained.

"..Oh. THAT Stuff. My mother used it on my hair before I had it put in elaborate dreadlocks to keep it nice and healthy. I… I didn't know the recipe for it, but thank you. It does mean a lot to me to keep my hair kept nice", Rene smiled, looking at the bottle and studying it carefully.

"I still can cut your hair if you want, Rene. Just the knots, though", Boone offered once again.

"No thanks… unless the knots don't come out still", she smiled once more. Boone shrugged, and just wanted to catch his hour sleep before the hour was up. Turning over, he grumbled slightly and closed his eyes, resting his head upon his arms and closing his eyes behind his shades.

The sun started to dip below the horizon as it always did, leaving streaks of red against a violet sky. It was chaotic looking but still abstractly beautiful.

Rene sat, her knees hugged up against her chest, and clutched the bottle in her hand.

"You know what you said about loved ones, Eli?"

Eli turned to her from the fire he was kindling, watching the flame rise from one corner of his eye as the Mojave temperatures dipped to a chilly night.

"Yeah?"

"Well… Boone is a loved one", Rene whispered to him with a closed-lip smile. She had always liked him- not just because he had saved her, but because she wanted to save him from a pit of despair. And because she just did, for every reason that she could think of.

Eli chuckled lightly.

"I meant of relations. But that can work too."

"With Boone, you need to worry more about what's brewing inside him. You, you're just driven. Him, he wants to be martyred. The Legion is not worth martyring yourself for no good reason." Eli murmured, watching the horizon for danger.

"I thought you of all people would agree that sometimes it's worth dying for a cause." Rene replied.

"For the right reason. Self loathing, unforgiveness for one's self, these are not good reasons. He's followed you this far out in the wastes and stayed alive when by all accounts he probably would have done himself in if you had not come along. You probably already know this but don't let him hurt himself. It's not worth it." the New Canaanite preached, glancing at the rising moon.

"Do you have any loved ones left?" Rene asked.

Eli could not help but give a melancholy smile.

"Ash, smoke and salt. I lost everything with the destruction of New Canaan at the hands of the White Legs on the orders of the Legion. Since it's so bloody important that I get wiped off the map with extreme prejudice, it would be reckless of me to get too close to someone else." Eli explained.

"You've traveled alone all this time?"

"Sure. I miss people but at the moment I'm a walking angel of death. Ironic because I carry a medic's pack. A small tribe helped me once and gave me shelter. I found out Legion assassins slaughtered and crucified them, even the children, after I left. I didn't stay around with others I met after that."

"What I don't get is why you've stayed with us-"

"You were both being shot at and it turns out you have the same problem as me. And you're both on a journey to correct the problem, the one I share too." Eli interrupted.

"-in the wrong direction. By all accounts, shouldn't you have turned around and gone north away from the Legion?" Rene inquired suspiciously.

Eli rolled his eyes and sighed because by all accounts, Rene had caught him red handed.

"I wandered down here to help the people of Arizona. That was the original plan, at least."

"You mean the Legion." Rene accused, disbelieving what she heard.

"No, the Legion, the heathen carrying the machetes and weapons can rape, pillage, crucify and kill themselves into the depth of hell for all I care. No, it wasn't for them I came down here, it was for the tribes and civilians living behind the standard of the Bull that I came for. I figured I could heal their wounds, heal their sick, deliver their children. I could be an example of compassion and maybe, by practicing forgiveness, I could one day find myself forgiving the madmen who ordered the destruction of my tribe. Maybe there was a chance, in whispered shadows and closed tents, people would hear that while New Canaan was destroyed and suppose to be forgotten one of their own was walking amongst the Legion, showing them a better way." Eli explained, his eyes once again burning in the direction of Flagstaff.

"The people who ordered the destruction of your home are still burning in Fortification Hill…", Rene sighed. She now wasn't sure if this was a crusade or a suicide mission; most likely both.

"My home was in Arizona. I lived in Dry Wells… and I hear it's a slave camp. In fact, it's not far from Flagstaff. You want to help the sick and the dying? Start in Dry Wells- it is the biggest slave camp that there is. It's where most of my people are.. Where most of everyone is. We'll need to devise a well thought-out plan, too.. because honestly? Arizona isn't far from us."

Eli sighed again.

"You must know that place much better than Boone or I. So you'll have to handle the mapping of the area. I'm not much good within the tactical area, so you're going to have to get Boone for that. "

Rene nodded, her eyes wanting to close. It was early to go to bed for her, but damn, was she tired.

"…I.. can't stay awake, honestly. We'll have to plan more tomorrow, see what we can all pull together..", Rene yawned, and was soon out like a light.


	4. In Pylae

Phoenix in Arizona

(Chapter Four)

There was something wrong about this night. The moon was bright overhead. The chill in the breeze was not unusual. It was quiet, save for the sound of the river and the breeze going through the rocks and canyon. None of them had spotted signs of movement or had the feeling that they were being watched.

And still, they knew something was wrong.

None of them spoke, it was not necessary and there was no sense in risking it at this point. They were suppose to be three ghosts in the canyon, people who were never there. Still, Eli's steps up front were going at a slower pace than usual and all of them had their weapons close at hand. Something was not right. It was almost as if they could feel it on the wind.

A few minutes in and it started with the stench of death. This was not unusual. All of them were acquainted with it. Plenty of things died out in the Mojave, be it some poor soul succumbing to the evils out there, benign or otherwise, or any number of the creatures that infested the place. You got used to it, almost being able to filter it out. At worse it was an invisible road sign of stale, unpleasant rot; something had died there and you'd best be careful.

But it started to grow.

They could tell Eli was started to get agitated up front, the movements of his head showing that he was desperately scanning for another pass. It was hard to tell why at first but after awhile it became immaterial to the growing, gut wrenching stench that seemed get worse with every passing step. The breeze shifted and the sensory horror that hit them nearly knocked them off their feet.

The smell was bone crushing.

Abruptly, Eli turned towards the river. They had to pass down several feet and climb down a few rocks making the descent no easy thing. With the stench in the air, getting water seemed like an odd thing. Rene was more concerned with trying to get out of this foul air. Eli meanwhile motioned for them to hand him their canteens. He shook his head to any questioning looks. Whatever the man foresaw, he was not telling them. They would have to wait. They were pressing on soon enough, this time right next to the river.

It started with one corpse. It was half rotten, the clothes in tatters, irrelevant and ignored. Then there was another. Just another bad day in the Mojave. They kept their weapons up. Corpses could also mean scavengers who would have no problem supplementing their meal with a fresh body. They soon passed more carcasses. The human body might be a beautiful thing but once it expires it becomes an upsetting sight as it becomes reduced to filth, rot and muck. It can also become toxic.

And, very suddenly, they were upon a mountain of bodies.

It was rather unbelievable how many of them were there. It would also be very easy to surmise that the Legion had been working overtime recently. For most of the bodies, that seemed consistent; similar states of decay and signs of trauma. Unfortunately, not all of them fit that description. There were even bodies of the Legion's own washed up from the river. Whether by chance or design all what mattered was that this had become a dumping ground.

The stench was hellish.

There was no way to get around either save the unsavory thought of tripping and stumbling over hundreds of corpses along a canyon side. That would not do. Instead, Eli led them until they were waist deep in the water of the river. The current made sure there weren't too many bodies but as they waded through they found themselves bumping up against one too many corpses. There were far too many. Half rotted corpses of NCR soldiers, Mojave inhabitants, some carcasses still wore the red armor of the Legion. Some bones were frail and worn, showing that the person who once wore them had the privilege, or curse, of living to an old age. There were even the tiny, undefined skulls that could have only belonged to children and babes.

The dead never talk to the living. They just lay there, occasionally grinning, sometimes glaring, but they never speak. It is the living who put words in the hollow jaws of the dead and see intents in the empty sockets of their eyes. A person could get lost in their thoughts, trying to ignore the obscene bump of too many bloated in the river, trying to pretend they were never there. It can get easy to start seeing familiar faces in the bodies that soon start to look all alike.

The faces of two tribes or a lost wife.

Boone just passed through in the water, only knowing death. The smell was somewhat bothering but he knew could almost feel something on the horizon bubbling up and waiting to ambush them with spears, guns, whatever had murdered the innocent and made rid of the parasitic infection of the Legion that was to behold lying in the intoxicated sands. The wooden stock of his rifle was getting tiring and his hands were cramping slightly, but her kept each calloused and scarred finger upon the rifle's stock at all times. Boone wanted to travel ahead, curious as to what well-laid plan was ahead of them, and wanting to take them on before they could ever make a move against their small grouping.

Keeping his face plastered in his usual surly look, Boone kept wading on, only releasing his hand from his rifle to scratch at his cheek momentarily and to rub his nose from the visceral and carmine scent of rotting flesh that just bled into the banks of the Colorado. Making sure his sunglasses were still on his shirt to increase his visibility, he often still found it too bright to not wear them, even at night. Rene told him his pupils were probably used to not being completely dilated because of his shades he wore all the time and he went with that. But accuracy couldn't be lost in a situation like this, and so, he loosened up a little bit from his icy-like tense and pushed on from Eli and Rene while still being rigid and swift with his movements. Rene, as usual, wanted to catch up with him but he signaled for her to stay back.

Eli even put a hand up to stop her from moving even faster in the dead silence. Not even the crickets or mantises wanted to chirp and trill in the night that was driving Rene insane. Feeling her extremities cramp up from being in the water too long, she hated the cold that crept up her back in tendrils, incasing her nerves in what felt like paralysis. There were too many bodies on shore and not enough space or light for them to see where to walk or not, but her toes felt stiff and the muscles in her legs contracted every so often.

But Rene knew not to break the rule of silence at night, and so she kept moving on in the water.

Boone finally reached a standstill, seemingly immersed with looks from a dead woman who floated in the water. Her blue eyes stared up with a small smile on her face, not looking at anything in particular. Rene and Eli finally caught up with him, seeing the spotter enamored with a woman that looked vaguely like Carla. As the night progressed on and without the course of sleeping, all of them were tired; their mind fogging up with the thoughts of loved ones or just being able to relax for once. Eli, Boone and Rene only wanted peace after their carefully laid plans had taken affect upon the southwest.

Boone turned his mind away from the woman and the cry for solace, running a hand over his face and signaling for both of them to follow him closely. Rene regained her position at his side and Eli followed closely to Rene. Trying to move without holding the others back, Rene put one leg in front of the other waded through the waters as much as she could without bumping into the carcasses of Legion, whose dead eyes stared up into the sky as well, each one spattered in diluted blood that made Rene feel queasy on the inside as she put thought into they were probably swimming in a pool of disease and their bodies were half submerged in the shit.


	5. In Sidera

Phoenix in Arizona

(Chapter Five)

Eli found Rene sitting in the sand leaning back on her arms. She was gazing into the clear Mojave night sky, it's dark blue lit up by countless stars. She seemed to have a wistful look in her eye even though they still smiled. Eli smiled wryly. He much rather be using these cool hours to travel but it was only courteous to follow Boone and Rene's traveling habits. Boone was resting off to the side as Eli had volunteered to take this watch of the night.

"Boone tells me you've been up there, if only briefly." he chuckled, silently identifying each constellation he could.

Rene laughed.

"He means that my mother told me the stars would take me home someday."

"A common motif throughout history. There's something comforting about it, indeed. In the past we would name the stars in the sky. Aldebaran, Altair, Betelgeuse, Arcturus. Before the bombs fell man hoped that he would one day conquer the stars and call each one home." Eli said.

"Hmm."

"...What was it like?" Eli asked seriously.

"What was what like?"

"Dying. I heard you died once. Maybe twice. What was it like?"

Rene grinned, looking over at the man.

"It's... well, when it first happened, there was this huge wall, but it broke to pieces. And this brilliant light flooded in, and it was warm and calming. It was beautiful, just floating there in the light, and I saw a lot of people I once knew. But... they disappeared, but my sister, Anne… she wanted to lead me somewhere…"

Rene's smile faltered slightly, her heart pounding in her chest. It was probably something not meant to be explained to the living, but she felt the need to get it all off of her chest.

"I think she wanted to take me to the stars, but Boone says I'm silly for thinking that because I've already seen what death is like. But there was more, I know", she simply said, her voice shaking ever so lightly. It was hard to talk about death, how much of a temptress it was to see your family lined up and awaiting your return. Rene remembered the whispering of Anne, her ethereal form wrapping around her body, constricting her almost. There was more to death, but she never got the full glimpse… Boone simply wouldn't let that happen to her.

"But when you're not supposed to die… there's this huge wind that casts you from 'up there', and it's a very cold wind that makes you fall in darkness, up until the point you can feel yourself go through.." Rene tried to continue, only attempting to describe what it was like to come back from the dead, "It's a rebirth, basically. But you remember everything, even your moment of death. You know, the saying that people say about 'You got hit so hard you can see stars'? That's what it's like. Falling through a starry night."

Eli looked as if he was completely interested at this point, sitting at full attention to Rene's explanation of death. To his evangelical mind, it seemed nearly like Heaven- the bright light, the people you know, but the Kingdom? There was never anything mentioned about stars within the scriptures about Heaven- or were there? And what about God?

"Did you see a beautiful city, Rene?"

"…It was foggy and blurry past the perception field of where you were currently standing. There was no ground, just light..."

Eli sighed. He could've figured it out at this point, but from the way Rene put it, it was a gracious heaven enough. But the wind, even that description sent shivers up his spine. She was a good example of that there was something left to hold onto if you stayed out in this world long enough, that in the end there was an ultimate reward to all the work put out here-

Oh, that was depressing.

"It sounds lovely, Rene. Do you think Boone wants to hear something that happy though?", Eli chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood, as he usually did to counteract the effects of something so dreadfully serious. Rene cracked another smile to him.

"That's mean. Boone doesn't mean to be so sulky all the time", Rene attempted to say in a serious voice but ended up sharing her laughter with Eli. She wanted to keep it down, however, just to not wake the sleeping soldier. He did deserve all the rest he was receiving, he had a hard life. All of them did.

"I knew a New Canaanite once. She was all sulky like Boone is, but she was very nice at times when she felt like it. Her name was… Catherine. Catherine Nicholas-Raine, and she ran the breadth of the Mojave as a courier for one job and ran a caravan business the next, but she quit that job, I think. Dunno where she is now- but I remember, she always cut her hair with a combat knife she had, and told me that her mother and father lived along the Colorado somewhere".

Eli wanted to know that name- if she was a survivor, then he would've most likely known her at one point while migrating from the salted ruins of New Canaan.

"Oh, she also liked to eat people."

Eli raised an eyebrow but then realized Rene was indeed being serious. Remembering he was supposed to be keeping watch, he gazed around, keeping close to Rene so they could still talk.

"I guess she really did love her neighbors then. I do hope she changed that habit, though. It can bore holes in your brain, and I'm not talking about it in the chemical ballistic sense."

"So, did you ask me what dying was like to compare with what you believe about death?" Rene inquired gently.

"Yes and no. A lot of people think New Canaanites like me are very singular in our thinking about life, death, right, wrong, heaven and hell. Don't get me wrong, I'll always be basically a New Canaanite in matters of faith, at least I try to be. But I can be a little more flexible. I don't think it's all that worrisome if people have different near death experiences."

"What do you mean that you'll always try to be a New Canaanite?" Rene inquired with furrowed brows.

Eli smiled sadly as he watched the evening horizon.

"I'm not a good New Canaanite."

"What makes you say that?"

"...Well, sometimes I doubt. Sometimes I get angry. Sometimes I don't forgive. And sometimes, actually a lot of times, I make really crappy jokes."

Rene continued to watch the stars overhead as the constellations slowly started to move in their courses. Left in his own darkness, Eli quietly rubbed the water out of his eyes. He needed to keep watch. He was less worried about the knot in his throat since it seemed the conversation had died a bit.

He was remembering New Canaan.

"…I doubted my tribe's faith. I get angry, insensitive, and intolerant. I don't forgive a lot, either… take the Legion for example. I was a slave for them for 13 years, and I killed every single one of them at Fortification Hill for my own reasons, and for Boone's sake, because he had a woman he loved that I knew, but she's gone now, because of them. But religion is the mystery that is never solved, to be human is to feel every emotion possible, and forgiveness is like your faith- you have to keep reviving it. So test your Religion regularly, and if you truly believe in it, then it doesn't have to make sense", Rene put a gentle hand upon Eli's shoulder. He hurt like Boone did, however, it was a simple fix for Eli, as he wasn't very grudging, it seemed.

She did pay attention to the stars a lot, but yet, she cared more for the current and living people- because life is for the living, and that's the sole purpose. Only if she could teach Boone that quality, only if he could listen to her for once and realize, he shouldn't be all sulky no matter his past. Maybe if Boone could overcome his past life, there'd be a new star in the sky to count.

Boone overheard Rene's and Eli's conversation, wondering how the hell Rene had the nerve to talk to people in such friendly measures, even if she just met them. It made things awkward if you got to know someone well enough you can talk like that to them. Shifting only slightly, he kept his eyes closed until he knew he had to take shift because Rene usually never slept until 1:30 in the morning, and when she did, it was like staring at a rock. He almost envied how well she slept without thoughts plaguing his mind. Without Carla plaguing his mind.


	6. In Servi

Phoenix in Arizona

(Chapter Six)

Nothing was far beyond the eye except the fields of Legion slaves and the many tents that dotted the land. Some Legionnaires here and there were seen patrolling the slave camps, but not much more than that. The real fight would be at the heart of the Legion's home- where their unforgotten memories would show up and raze the land until everything was burnt to the ground- including the flags featuring the feared Oxen that managed to bore a hole within the Mojave's political peace that once resided within the desert sands. Rene would make sure she got to strangle the crimson and gold from the land, and wove her fingers through her hair, making elaborate braids and twisting strands together.

Despite her the Twisted Hairs being assimilated, the blood of her tribe had never once left her veins, only suppressed to appear more civilized among the droves of NCR soldier that looked upon her in amazement. Even Rene felt over-glorified and she had to relieve herself with her tribal affinity; attacking the Legion was an excuse to show her roots. With an ex-soldier and a man of great faith, it seemed as if nothing could get within their way. She only hoped her luck would last for all of them.

Boone watched her braid her hair, each lock being elaborately twisted. It was a beautiful process to watch. However, his rifle did need tending to, and he cleaned it well. Making sure he had enough ammo to put a bullet through each and every Legionnaire's head, Boone sighed and tried to rid himself of negative thoughts; however, he wasn't sure what was negative or positive.

His rifle was indeed falling apart after all these years, but he did know it well. It didn't matter if the stock was duct taped- it could be broken in half for all he cared- but he knew his rifle well enough to know it wasn't at that point yet. In fact, it wasn't even broken to him- just well used. Boone ran the cleaning cloth over the barrel and finally looked pleased with something for once in his life. He watched Rene dig her hands into her pack, pulling out jars of colored paints.

He had seen her use them before- but only once. She usually made designs on her face that looked like they were in a completely different language- something alien in design. As far as he was aware though, Rene wasn't an extra-terrestrial; and he certainly hoped not. Rene only used the paints whenever something big was happening, and the first time she had used it for was during the Battle of Hoover Dam. Boone even remembered General Oliver commenting on it after she woke up from the surgery she had to undergo once more.

Rene took out a broken piece of mirror she kept and the brush for the paints was quickly dipped within the jar containing the crimson red, and painted her lips- coating the top one and making a bold line on the bottom. Wiping her brush onto her shirt, she dipped the brush into the gold and made dots beneath her brows, and lined her waterline. Making jagged lines on her lips with the gold, it almost looked as if she was wounded and bleeding the vibrant colors.

Eli looked over at her with curiosity. He knew she was from a tribe, but never before had he witnessed this kind of behavior being exhibited from the young lady.

"What do they mean… the lines and dots?" he asked, wondering what they spoke.

"It means war- war that is against the Legion. The colors are mocking them", Rene told him, Boone looking at her, noticing the colors. A woman in Legion colors must be a great mock to them; reminded him of the propaganda posters about female soldiers within the NCR.

"You want some?" Rene asked, her eyes now focusing on Eli. She looked over to Boone, who shook his head. Eli shrugged.

"Not sure. How do I know you're not going to write something bad on my head?" Eli chuckled. Rene locked eyes with him in a serious glare.

"Because I'm not my father."

Eli felt his heart drop at the sound of her voice being directed at him. It was like she was holding a very sharp dagger to his throat.

"Ah… sorry."

Boone sighed, watching Rene continue with her painting.

"You're not performing any heroics. No-one is", Boone sharply told Rene. He looked over to Eli to get a confirmation, who nodded his head.

Eli could tell they were all going through their own pre-battle rituals while he himself had none. Under normal circumstances he would have considered that a good thing. His tradition preferred violence as a last resort if it all and even then, his faith had been ashamed of the few times it did try to develop a martial tradition. With good reason. Conquest in the name of faith was a great way to start discrediting it.

Still...he felt the need to do something as he wandered a few paces away from the two NCR legends.

Eli lowered his desert camo hat and bent to a knee. He felt the need to pray but he highly doubted his Lord would approve of any request he made in regards to what they were about to do. Truthfully, he did not approve of it either. But he could not in good conscious turn away from this either. Then there was only one thing to be said...

"Thy will be done." Eli murmured before returning the cap to his head.

Aw screw it, in the end he was a sucker for the traditional.

"Do you have any black available?" he demanded.

Still working the designs of her face, Rene motioned vaguely to a brush and cup of dark paint. Eli immediately set to work. On the stock of his rifle and the side of his .45's barrel he etched two Greek letters overlapping each other.

"I think it's my turn to ask what those mean." Rene said, noticing his work.

"The symbol was once known as the Chi Rho." Eli murmured.

"And what does it mean?"

"The legend is that the first time this symbol was painted for war, it served as a memo of announcement to the first Romans that they were about to come under new management. As for what it was suppose to mean...its best that that's forgotten."

_In hoc signo vinces. Though if anyone should die today, it better be me. New Canaan is now reduced to ashes and it is only fitting that I join their ashes. The time __of war must come to an end and man must one day beat his swords into the dust just as this old symbol has nearly been swallowed by the sands of time._

"Thy will be done."

Rene finished her work, letting her designs dry. She definitely looked like a tribal war queen now; as the last one standing from the Twisted Hairs, it was almost as if she was supposed to be dressed for battle. She didn't pray, as their god had no set deity but believed in animism, the belief that everything has a soul. That even the Legionnaires had one, and she would start by emptying them of theirs by impaling them through the heart. Thinking harder on this, it wasn't a hate crime against the Legion, no matter what her reasons were.

They all had to burn for their actions against the innocents in the Mojave, for each soldier they mindlessly slaughter and each woman they raped and enslaved…

And Rene, she hadn't even got the worse of it.

It felt wrong to still contain innocence after thirteen years of slavery, free from the touch of man but kissed by the evidence of war. It wasn't right, she wasn't like the other women- persecuted and killed, singled out by each Legionnaire. But Rene had only met the face of death numerous times and seen blood spill as soldiers fell over the great walls that separated the old world's values against the new rising of an order to yet be seen against the exsanguinated horizon of The East. It was wrong- but it just wasn't about her, or Boone, or even Eli.

The Legion had set up a perfect order to seemingly annihilate whatever came in their path- but not only was it upfront, it was stabbing everyone in the back- while creating an autocracy with slaves as the working force…

The perfect setup for endless amounts of soldiers, for countless wars.

And why had they kept Rene strong? To lead an army to march over the Mojave, with gales of blood and silver of swords. They almost knew she would figure out their conspiracy, and see the beauty of the plan. She was picked- from the genetic cream of the crop for soldering- and was lost to the enemy's side. However, it wasn't about her.

The resilience of subservience had its fine pleasures for the Legion. To keep an army under wraps, to portray them as weak but yet hide daggers beneath their boots that kicked dirt west. Rene couldn't be the only one either. There had to be more, and there were possibly hundreds more of brilliant tacticians, shackled down by the Legion.

Rene's face drained of color upon her penultimate realization.

Not only would it be a hard fight, it would be long. And bloody- but more so than Hoover Dam twice over.

She'd be murdering the newly-bred generation of a tribe that would sweep across the land like a brush fire… her generation.

The change in Rene's demeanor could only be felt like a drop in temperature or a shift of the wind. Eli might have noticed but he was uncertain about asking. Boone had no such misgivings.

"Is something wrong?" the sniper asked.

Rene turned and explained to them exactly what she thought. The sun had shifted several degrees in the sky by the time she was done. Boone and Eli had listened intently the whole time and had not said a word. It was not a very uplifting concept. Bad enough that that their jobs would be made that much more difficult by a ticking time bomb the Legion had so insidiously been developing this whole time; they would be essentially destroying a generation that had not been taught better. Rene's generation.

"We all knew this would not be easy." Boone mumbled.

"Maybe we're approaching it wrong." Eli blurted.

And for probably the thousandth's and one time that trip, Rene and Boone shot a look at him.

"Sure, they're the Legion but they're still people too. The fact that we used the great ditch _they_ crawled out of infiltrate _their_ lines speaks volumes already. Rene, Legion soldiers are taught to follow orders and not to show their own initiative, right? They take orders, they don't think for themselves?"

"Yes, but we thought we destroyed all of their leadership at Fortification Hill." Rene explained.

"Possibly you took out their good looks and their teeth but more of their cranium remained. If there was a way to slice off the leadership here, what would happen?"

Rene's mouth slightly screwed together, trying to think of what The Fort had been like during its last hour of living and breathing life before flames and explosions seemed to have descended upon its inhabitants.

"Caesar was the leader. Wasn't he? He ran the Legion from his little playfort upon that hill by Mead Lake. He had the entire Legion at his command, but not once did he ask the force from Arizona to stomp in during the second battle of Hoover Dam, or any time before that. So I guess he's not really the brains of the operation- he's just the disguise. We killed him, Legate Lanius, Vulpes Inculta, Lucius, and everyone else on his counsel that would provide some form of order if anyone else were to die; down to the last Recruit Prime. Arizona is really the last stop, but the slaves from Cottonwood Cove and the remnants from The Fort are the next problem we have."

Boone caught her idea, and he finally looked alert.

"But if we kill the leaders, then the slaves will have no rules to follow. There won't be any order, and they'll all fall-out of line to be easily picked off as stragglers."

"Good point, all of it, but just hear me out on this crazy idea," Eli asked. "We got several options. We can quietly knock the heads of one or two of their stragglers and ask them key questions. Boone, I'm sure the NCR might have taught you a thing or two about conversations with prisoners, right? Don't feed me official NCR bellyaching about not torturing prisoners, what are governments but organized gangs with suits."

Rene and Boone stared at him in disbelief. Unfortunately for them, Eli had not gotten to his most hair brained one yet.

"Or, we've gotten this far and Flagstaff is just a stone's throw away. How about we just sneak right there on the front door, knock and have a polite conversation with the people in charge?"

"You want to do that? Have you lost your mind?" Boone demanded.

"It's not any more crazy than what we've been doing. It's the three of us against an army, and _empire!_ We've known that all along, we've just been in denial about it the whole time. We used the landmark on the back of their coin to sneak up on them. We are right outside their capital while we're their most wanted criminals! This is just the last swallow of the crazy bottle because let's be honest, we do not have the bullets or an army to fight off every one of them." Eli argued, pointing in the direction of Flagstaff.

"Besides, we only need to get in talking distance with them to have a loud conversation." Eli smirked, tapping the trademark pistol of the New Canaanites.

"Still, that's just...madness." Boone argued.

"Look, if you want, I can go knock on the gates by myself, that way you have a clear idea who the leaders are and you might get a clear line of sight of them. Besides, the Legion is not known for dispensing quick death to those they hate the most. You'll have time. I don't fear death nor where I should go be it heaven or hell. I just know I've cheated death for too long now. If I'm going to die, I want to get it over with."

The silence was deafening.

"Well, frankly I think it's either those ideas or raising an army of Death Claws."

"We all need to stay together if we've come this far, though. Splintering off within chaos is stupid. But Eli is right… it's an army and an empire. However, I don't want to be carrying bodies by the time we're finished. Nor am I going to die myself, I've had enough of that."

Rene peered around the area, just looking upon the ramshackle city of what was once Flagstaff. Her eyes caught the light of the sharply rising buttes and mountains around the city.

"Boone. There are high places up there- like, that flat top place", Rene pointed toward the butte.

"But be careful. It's dangerous within the mountains. There may be Yao Guai in the area, and they're like mutated bears. And they're mean. I'd say take an anti-materiel rifle, but seeing as how we're under-stocked with all of our equipment; just keep a sharp eye out. That won't be a problem for you."

Rene sighed. She hated making plans for a death date.

"Eli, let's go. We're going to be knocking on the city gates… but we're going to give in. They won't suspect Boone up there if they will focus on us now- A New Canaanite, and a Twisted Hair and escaped slave. They'll most likely bring their leaders out in the broad day to meet us… and if Boone is quick enough, he'll crack their skulls with a .305 round."

Eli looked worried. Being apprehended by the head of the Bull and dragged in by the horns of the damn thing was enough, but Rene suggesting to be crucified? He thought that braids upon her head were too tight at this point, but it was elaborate- even it if meant death.

It wasn't far off that the Legion could see two people approaching; two scouts stationed on the outside of the gate peered through their sets of binoculars and stared for just a moment, their breath taken away from them in a fury of disbelief and an oncoming bout of rage. The Great Rene Ward, the Witch of the West, the Damned Memory. She wasn't alone as expected, but with a different man at this point. One unmistakably who had arose from the ashes of the Mormon City, one named Eli. It was a mystery as where the sharpshooter of the Bear lay- possibly dead; just one small grace from Mars himself. Still, there was a chain of command to follow and this required someone higher than them. They sent word to the centurions.

As Rene and Eli made their way further down the road, their steps moving more with bravado and chutzpah with every step, they spotted four figures coming to meet them. Eli squinted, though the shapes in the shadows did not take a lot to decipher what they were.

"Centurions. Guess we qualify as dignitaries." Eli murmured.

Rene's heart pounded, wanting to jump out of her chest at this point.  
"Are you ready, Rene?"

"What?"

"It's going to get real from here."

"Ready as I'll ever be, Eli."

"No. I mean, it's going to get _real_. This is going to hurt. Crucifixion is not easy and it's not a quick death. This can be days of slow suffocation, or quick depending on how fast or slow they want us to go. Now is the time for you to go if this is not the path for you."

Rene shook her head, still determined to walk the path with Eli. She'd been with him this far, but the feeling of regret panged within her mind. It made her sick, and of course, her skin paled. But only just. She felt words climbing from her heart, and up into her throat, from which she just kept within her mouth, sitting there like stagnating water.

"All right. Well then, let's make sure we get through this. You're younger than me and no one should die younger than myself. Life flashing before your eyes would be too quick, not enough to entertain you to your last breath." Eli replied, smiled weakly.

"Halt. You will go no further and submit to the will of Caesar." one of the Centurions barked.

"Yeah, yeah, _Ave Caesar_ and all that Latin. Shall get on with this? I'm sure Caesar has been getting awfully lonely eating by himself in the river Hades."

The Centurion landed a blow into his stomach.

"Yeah, I probably deserved that." Eli groaned.

Boone treaded up the mountain paths, huffing and puffing until he got to the top. His sunglasses cast a small glare on the ground as he threaded through the dead trees and bushes, moving at a quickened pace to keep Rene and Eli from dying at the gates of hell themselves, immortalized by the blood that leaked from the creaking metal that only opened to prisoners and the worthy- both of which labeled Rene and Eli… and himself. He'd gotten this far and he'd been traveling with Rene for so long, it was insane how far she pushed him up on the Legion's hit list. He wanted to thank her.

His rifle, however, didn't like the wear and tear Rene provided for him. Instead, he figured he needed to maintain it better at this point for all their adventures to come. He didn't mind traveling with Eli, but the boy did need to shut his mouth at times. He only imagined how they were doing, walking to the city of nightmares itself. He would've taken either of their places any day. But he had his own role to take, and that was to be a guardian angel... if those existed. He wanted to believe so badly.

Boone finally reached the top and quickly got to work. A sniper rifle was more of a complicated weapon platform than a simple rifle. It required preparation. Readying himself, he peered down below.

What he saw was only worthy of his own nightmares. Eli and Rene were being drug into the city, the bloody gates opening exactly for them as a few Legionaires of high rank tore to the front gates and surrounded the two. His heart dropped to his gut as his fear resurfaced and Carla's face replaced Rene's already bloodied face. Her crying face. Eli looked over to Rene as far as Boone could see, trying to give her comfort as time irked on, slower than ever, but the kick the Centurion gave Eli was all too swift. Boone could almost hear Rene's visceral cry of defeat as she received a hard kick as well.

Boone's breathing slowed and he focused into his rifle, already too late as his hands fumbled for the trigger. He shook badly, Carla wrecking his mind and Rene's scream piercing the air about him. His eardrums rang with her cry so loud, her voice would surely only rasp out at this point. He couldn't see much over the gates, but he saw Rene's head again. Images flashes between reality and imagination of her screaming face, tearing her apart.

He was not there, but he might as well have been in that hell too.

Moving his finger from the trigger, Boone sighed, held his breath and let it go slowly as he closed his eyes and tried to stop his shaking or keep it to a minimum. Eli, on the other hand, wanted to grasp his chest to ease the pain but he was being drug by the wrists and Rene, the poor girl, was weeping silently from the pain, inhaling sharply and groaning from the intensity of their current punishment. Rene closed her eyes and tried to be strong, only wondering what Boone was doing. If he could see, she tried to look strong for him.

Eli disdainfully thought that of the many bad ideas he had in life, this was getting towards the top of the list of all the ones he regretted. Normally he would not have cared but the silent and quickly diminishing, frail figure of Rene next to him was throwing salt in that wound of guilt. He was not sure how long they had been knocked around and beaten but it was long enough for him to lose track of time.

The rigors of the Mojave were certainly kinder than the wrath of the Legion scorned.

In the end, battered, breathless and in agony, the two were lined up and brought to the main street that ran through the center of the encampment. Eli scanned the masses, way too many of them. The wretches, huddling groups pounded into cogs into the warmachine of the Bull, all too willingly brainwashed and cooperative.

"Wait...is this a triumphal entry?" Eli blathered breathlessly.

That earned him a backhand.

"Silence, profligate."

"Really? Really! You know that much of history but he never taught you that Rome _fell_?" Eli screeched.

The centurion went to hit him again and this time Eli caught his hand in his mouth and bit down hard. They had to beat him off the angered commander. Rene wondered if Eli was trying to goad them into killing him right then and there but once that whole drama was over, they started marching them.

"Worth it." Eli croaked.

Rene opened her eyes once more, as much as she could without writhing in pain. Her eyes had always been sensitive and the beatings only made it worse. She could hear her nickname being screamed within the crowd, many soldiers calling her the Witch of the West and the fallen soldier. It was pretty stupid, though, because in the Legion, women weren't meant to be soldiers.

However, the deafening feeling of a dark crimson shadow casting upon the land made Rene despair all over again, for what seemed like the eleventh time.

Maybe she'd despair herself into infinity at this point.

The silver of eyes penetrating into the city was just one more killer, the thin-lipped smirk of a tall and unbreakable influential man pierced her heart with sadness and in the distance of the crowd gathering, she could see a familiar face of greying brown hair and insanely blue eyes look upon her, but the man could've been as fake as her strength right now. The shadow was very real as he emerged from an elaborate housing, a palace of sorts, and made his slow way to where there were two large crosses visible on the horizon of the city. There was a third, but it was empty. She was glad it would stay like that.

And of course, many people asked of who they were, and a Centurion simply told the masses that followed that Rene and Eli were very important prisoners, if there were people who didn't see or know- which was the majority. Although little whispers of Ward could be heard among the crowd. Rene broke into pieces once more, murdering her strength that was never really there. Simple thoughts plagued her mind. The words she wanted to yell but could never be heard at this distance wanted to spill from her mouth like a waterfall, like the rising bile from her stomach from being punched and kicked.

Breathing as much as she could, she looked over to Eli.

"We'll... be fine. I know it!", she smiled through the tears and the kick to the throat, delivered specially from the Centurion who half-drug-half-walked her to the hill specially laboured for them, where the specially made crosses stood in the blazing light.

Eli wanted to tell that if she honestly believed that, she was crazier than he was but you had to lie to yourself to escape the reality of the present.

Up and beyond the city, Boone noticed the activity starting to stir on the main street. There were far too many people and it was too distant for him to make out details. His heart skipped though when he noticed a small group being drug down the road towards the central square. It had to be those two. Boone tried so hard not to look at Rene directly in the scope. That would be too much...

But he had to.  
His eyes flickered between Rene and Carla once more, both faces occupying Rene's at this point. Pointing his crosshairs towards the middle of her forehead, he wanted to place a bullet between her eyes. To let her have peace, and for making him want to die.

The Caesar, the _true _leader of the Legion stared upon the young woman, his mirror-like pools so sharp he could cut through diamonds. He looked upon Eli, only wondering how he replaced the sharpshooter. The toga he wore draped elegantly around his sandaled feet and the silver laurel around his black hair only made him stand out even further. To Rene, he looked like a ghost to haunt her in her dying moments, to make her rue the day she was even born. Rene opened her eyes and stared at him, to which she received a hard smack from a neighboring Vexillarius.

Rising behind him were the three crosses, the third quickly being taken down as unnecessary. Either way, the remaining two were foreboding enough.  
Rene had been broken down. She was a slave once more, but a slave that had been well-punished. Her small chest rose and fell, barely wanting to rise so she could put oxygen in her body for what seemed like the last time. Her busted lips only rasped out to Eli, but it was inaudible as they were being prepared to be nailed to their deathbeds.

"Stay with me, girl." Eli muttered.

Rene groaned.

"Come on, Joan of Arc. Did I ever tell you what the _Flagellum Dei_ was?"

Rene said nothing.

"The scourge of God sent to bring Rome to its knees. Actually, his real name was Attila the Hun. He brought a weakened empire and made it grovel to him."

He shot a look at Caesar but returned to look back at Rene. This was where the half truths had to be told but they were in the middle of an empire built on half truths.

"So Attila turned back after sacking the Empire. Rome did not kill the _Flagellum Dei_ but you know what did? It was a woman. Attila died on his wedding bed. Stay with me, girl!" Eli barked.

"Crucify them." Caesar replied casually. They had to get this over with.

"Truth be told, Attila died by drowning in his own blood," Eli murmured to the Roman Emperor. "But you've shed enough blood to drown in a thousand times over. Oh come on, more of these crosses? Didn't you learn what happened to the Rome the last time they tried that? Do you really want another religion outliving _your_ empire as well? Not like you killed the first one off. I'm still around."

Rene listened to Eli, trying to stay awake. But here she was, the Joan of Arc, the Queen Boudicca, upon the crosses that meant nothing to her but obviously meant something to Eli. Religion... it was something weird to her, she never quite understood the symbolics of it despite all of Boone's reading to her.  
She never did learn to read, however.

Rene felt the first stake become driven within her tiny palm, and she screamed bloody murder once more. Boone watched it in his sights, watching Rene die again. His heart fluttered and he knew he couldn't take it anymore, watching her die. Hearing the bloodcurdling screams that emanated from her into Heaven above. It was almost as if the second scream echoed into the valley, only more feigned. Adrenaline seemed to rush in her and ease the pain a bit. Boone watched her head turn to Eli, her eyes unopening. Only Eli could see the tears that dropped onto her battered cheeks.

"I wish I told him I loved him, Eli."

That hit the new Canaanite like a ton of bricks. Truth be told, Eli was starting to wonder where their sniper was. He looked around, growing desperately frustrated. Then it occurred to him why. The new Caesar was standing by several heavily armored praetorians. Boone did not have a clear shot.

"Stay with me, Rene. You have to tell him yourself. Do you hear me?"

He was met with silence.

"Stay with me, Rene. You're not going to die with that regret. You're going to tell him."

Eli could see they were quickly getting nowhere. This had to end. He hurt in countless places and those _nails_ were digging into his bones and chewing at his mind. Where on God's good green earth was Boone?

"Ave, Caesar." Eli murmured.

The Legionaries and their leader perked their ears. He had their attention.

"I swear, if you tell me to get off this cross, I will spit on you." Eli growled at them.

They did nothing, continuing to watch this man, wondering what he might have had to say.

"Get me off this cross." Eli ordered.

The Praetorians laughed in derision. It was too absurd. The condemned actually dared to speak an order to Caesar?

"Leave me here, and death will find you on swift wings, Caesar. Get me down and maybe I can keep you alive." Eli blathered.

"He's gone mad." one of the guards murmured.

"And how do you propose to do that, New Canaanite? Do you take me for a fool?" Caesar demanded.

"No, I take you for a joke, relieving a past dream condemned only to fall like its predecessor."

"You are wrong."

"It will fall. With none of the former's glory."

Anger flashed in Caesars eyes and he stepped away from the guards. He opened his mouth to speak but Eli interrupted him one last time.

"_Veni, vidi, vici__." _

Caesar's last thought was trying to decipher what he meant by that. Alas, his head exploded before he could get the epiphany.

Many praetorian looks around, growling with the fury of a thousand Yao Guai. Rene looked down, blood dripping from her forehead and adding to the mess Boone had made on the ground. Putting her face up to the sunlight once more, she closed her eyes despite the screams down below them. However, all screams weren't of terror.  
"Rene! RENE!", a man yelled over the orchestra of madness. His tousled blond hair and dark green eyes stared up into Rene's bloodied face, finally realising it was the young lady who gave herself to the Legion many years prior so she could save the rest of her tribe. There were stories passed around, not only of the Burned Man, but of Rene Ward, only known as the Witch of the West. But the slaves loyal to her story, her past, and those who knew her believed her to have mystical powers to make empires fall by a wave of her hand, to summon droves of lightning and fire upon lands. Of course, she wasn't that mystical.

She had become a simple girl trying to make her way in the world, in the company of the mysterious sniper only referred to as Boone, who sat upon the butte, firing off more rounds but evenly spaced his shots so his location would not be betrayed by his own rifle. Keeping his finger on the metal heated by the sun, he kept his shaking under control and left his trust in his mind, which still contained some part of being a soldier in it. But never once did he look at Rene, for fear of his emotions overpowering him and shooting her instead.

Eli looked around as a group of the former slaves marshalled around them. It all started to fall in place. Caesar was dead and if he was going to take a swing at what was going on, these slaves, probably former member of her tribes, saw his death as some sort of retaliation from her.

That illusion was only going to last so long as she remained alive, though.

"Get her off that cross. Now!" Eli shouted at them.

The slaves got to work, some even climbing up the beam to quickly extract her from the wood.

"Also, don't forget me. I don't want to hang out here much longer than I have to. Actually, could you work on me now? Just for that pun I'd rather not die just yet. That deserves a century in purgatory or two." Eli murmured, his sarcastic nature too deeply ingrained in him.

Rene's former tribesmen gently cradled her to the ground. Eli was not treated as gingerly but no one present cared. In the end, all that mattered was Rene and the New Canaanite all too quickly assessed the situation.

"Can you get her to the main gate?" he demanded.

The Twisted Hairs stared up at him in bewilderment.

"Can you get her to the main gates? Can you get her out of the city? Answer me, now!"

They nodded.

"Get her out of here. Look for a man with a red beret, a hat on his head. Bring her to him. Find any healer you know. Get her better but get her out of here. Now!" Eli barked.

Looking around and seeing the city was descending into chaos, his own nightmares were being realized. The seat of their empire, with its splashes of red and decorations of crucified skeletons, was descending into anarchy. The head of the snake had been cut but the convulsions of the death throes threatened to destroy the rest of the corpse. This had to be changed.

He found his pistol and rifle being thrust into his hands.

"Do you want to protect your families?" Eli demanded of those gathering around him.

"Yes."

"Then follow me and do as I say."

"_Ad hoc signo__ vinces." _

-

Boone watched the crowd of what appeared to be slaves flood from the city, oozing from the gates, carrying something within the middle of the group. It only took him a minute to understand what had happened, and he started running down the mountain to meet the great flood of human beings that carried only one more of their kind. The blond boy with the tousled hair cradled Rene gently, placing a gentle kiss upon her bloodied hair. It was long, unlike the other women's hair. Even most of the men's hair was completely shaved except for his. His mother always said that the stories got to his head when he said he wanted to be the Wizard of the West.

But his mother was carrying Rene as well, and his mother's sister, and so on.

They all huddled around what was to be perceived as a Goddess, unlike the name the dissolved Legion murmured rarely. Boone forced his way through the crowd that started to disband into a circle around the three people- the boy, the goddess, and the sharpshooter.

Rene turned her neck to meet Boone's blurry face, his sunglasses still on them. His breathing was quick as he approached Rene and quickly relieved the girl from the tall boy's arms, who yelled at him.

"She needs help! She is hurt badly, my mother is a healer!", He yelled fiercely at the Sharpshooter. Boone growled at the tribal. Rene silently intervened between the two.

"...Hi, Boone. How are you?", she asked, rasping a giggle. She smiled, even though most of her teeth were missing. Her hands and feet had holes bored into them. Her eyes barely opened, which contained tears. She had been crying into Flagstaff and she was crying now that she was out.

Boone wanted to drop to his knees at this point and ask a God, any God, for forgiveness. Or to take Rene's place. But he stayed silent, shaking with her blood covering him; just like it did whenever he held her when she had problems with her lungs.

Rene coughed, and blood spattered him. Just like when he first saw her on the road to Novac, the blood spilling between her fingers like water.

Only for a moment did his gaze turn to the damned city, to wonder of Eli. His shaded eyes looked down towards to broken Rene.

"We're leaving", he simply said, and carried her, determined to bring her back to Vegas.


	7. Incipiunt Item

Phoenix in Arizona  
(Epilogue)

It had been quite a while since the last of the Legion scorched against the sands of the Mojave. Nothing had been heard of them, not even the former slaves spoke their name as they passed through Vegas. The Legion were the damned memories now, never to have a say in politics ever again. Never to bathe in the blood of thousands.

And now, the NCR seemed to be silent, only tackling the small chain gangs that wreaked small bouts of havoc on tiny towns. They were quickly pacified, of course, and life went on as normal. The sun still shone and the irradiated waters still glistened in the Mojave, but now it was unrushed by the fear of war.

Boone walked down the roads not alone, with Rene at his side, and Eli tagging along as usual. They were the heroes that were unspoken, and the NCR still had no idea what happened to them during those three or four months they dropped off the grid. Rene was happy to get off of Eli's odd schedule of traveling, and night was finally approaching. She silently hummed to herself, her lungs hurting. Her heart hurt as well, but in a literal sense.

"It's getting late", she whispered, and sat down in the middle of the road. Boone quickly scooted her off into a ditch and sighed.

"Why do you always sit in the middle of the road, Rene?"

"Why not?", she replied with a laugh.

"Did they originally travel on the right side of the road, or was it the left? She might be onto something with the middle." Eli shrugged.

"What do you mean?", Boone queried.

"Back in the old world. They used to keep cars and traffic going in the same direction on one side of the road. That's why you usually see lines in the middle. Right? Please tell me you heard something like that because I don't want to feel like I'm losing my mind here."

Rene rolled back to the middle and sat.

"If I lived back then, I would put my car in the middle. And go, to wherever I wanted!", She smiled, her teeth still missing. But they were mostly the back ones.

"I'm not sure that would have ended well. I'm told cars went at high speeds back then." Eli replied.

Rene's smile drooped and thought of it carefully, before moving back to the ditch with Boone and Eli. Boone of course, usually started falling asleep around this time. Rene did need to talk to Eli again.

For his part, Eli was tired. His hands and feet still bothered him at times but he felt a massive weight off his soul. He doubted he would ever be able do precise surgery anymore. Too much damage to his hands but at least he could still do basic medicine and aim with his weapons.

He sighed, relaxing into the rocks behind him. If there was something he did take solace in, it was that back East, things were starting to...stabilize. He left the now independent tribes one last order before he left, though.

Take down those crosses.

Rene watched Boone fall asleep, and made no move to disturb him. A serious air fell around her shoulders, and her scarred face looked to Eli, the bruises on her just starting to disappear.

"...I never told him. I don't think I can, Eli..", she murmured, her heart hurting again.

"Oh, for goodness sake. Why not?"

Rene sighed. Not only did her heart hurt, her lungs did as well. It was a constant pain that plagued her again. A plague that would inevitably be her bane.

"I'm sick again, Eli. I don't want to hurt him...", Her voice trailed off again.

"Rene, what's wrong?" Eli asked, becoming serious as he pulled himself up while leaning on his rifle. Rene saw that he never removed the symbol he painted on it.

"I'm sick, didn't he tell you?"

"I thought you got better. It was a tumor before, right? You're feeling the symptoms again?" Eli demanded, brows narrowing.

"They told me it was.. Tu-bur-cu-low-sis. Or something. I used to be a doctor, too, and I can tell you I know I don't have that. I think."

"Alright, work with me. What do you think it is? I have no clue of your medical history." Eli suggested, sitting at attention now, looking directly at her.

"It's probably nothing, I'm going to sleep. Maybe my ribs are healing?", she said, lying down. She closed her eyes and squeezed away a tear, only herself knowing the truth.

Eli sighed and rose to his feet. His spirit was disturbed. He didn't like the note of how that conversation ended. But, she was educated in that stuff, right? She said she was. Still...something was wrong. But what could he do? Even if his hands were perfect like they used to be, he couldn't force her under the knife. Especially out here in the wastes.

He did the only thing he knew how to do at this point. He stood a bit off, clasped his hands and prayed.

"Can you fix me?", she murmured, hoping he didn't hear.

"What was that?" Eli asked.

"Take me to a doctor in the morning. But not an NCR one, take me to a Follower. I know them... I was one of their physicians before I left for the NCR's army some time ago. They'll know who I am, but you can't let the NCR know I went."

"We can go now, Rene. We can wake Boone and leave now." Something inside him told him there was something drastically wrong.

Rene turned over, the moon shining upon her cheeks, still wet from tears. She shook Boone awake.

"What is it?", he grumbled.

"Boone, we have to go." Eli replied quickly.

The sniper blinked. This was rather out of the ordinary.

"Don't worry about it." Eli lied.

Rene stood, sniffling, and started walking. Deep down, from her months of practice, she knew. She played stupid to her own feelings, and that made her walk quicker.

The collapse, when it came, was sudden and decisive. One moment she was walking the next she was on the ground coughing up blood. Eli scooped her up and placed her on Boone's shoulder.

"Follow me. We need to move." he ordered, trying to play with the soldier he knew that was still inside Boone.

They had to move but something told Eli it was all empty. It was all motions and instinct now. It was all...grasping at the wind.

Her placid face was under the bright lights once again in a Follower's somewhat ramshackle facility, cutting along the scar between her breasts that was a reminder of what was inevitable. Everything was smooth at this point, though, and it was only twenty minutes into the operation. Nothing had been said as Rene danced past the broken wall.

She ran into the arms of the many tribe members that she once knew, with no intentions of going back now. Her heart skipped a beat, and she was gone.

Of course, they tried getting her back. But it was to no avail...

A doctor in bloody pre-war scrubs motioned Eli in as they were suturing Rene up. She looked too calm. She had a small smile on her face.

Eli sighed, frowned and took a deep breath again. He closed his eyes, trying to squeeze the water back. It worked for a moment, failed the next and then stopped. There would be a time for that later but not now.

"Do you want to know?" the doctor asked quietly.

"It doesn't matter. It won't bring her back." Eli murmured.

He reached over and placed a hand on her cooling forehead. For a moment he wanted to curse her but no one should do that to the dead. Her struggle was over now, her race finished. He swallowed the lump in his throat and moved his palm down to close her eyes.

"Rest in peace, Rene Ward. I will carry your one last message"

-

Eli and Boone did not speak to each other much the next day. Neither quite remembered what had happened. In the end, a lot of it did not matter. Rene was not there anymore and all they had were memories and ghosts of emotions. The two men stared at the freshly covered hole in the ground.

"What will you do now?" Eli asked him.

"I don't know." Boone murmured.

Eli sighed wondering if he should tell him. There was a reason some ghosts were better left undisturbed. However, he had a vision of her shooting him a dirty look. She was just a kid, gone way too young, used and discarded by two empires. She had next to nothing her whole life.

She deserved at least one last wish given.

"She loved you, Boone." Eli said.

Those words carried on the wind gently, floating. They seemed to spread across the Mojave, finally landing in the oncoming storm of thunder and fire that came in droves from the sky.

From Flagstaff, where a tall male with greying brown hair and insanely blue eyes felt the passing of the young girl, who made such a legend of herself. It was only some time before the NCR found out.

He knew that House couldn't resist the opportunity to claim this victory as his own. The game was not over. A courier still walked the length of the Mojave on some unknown but all too important agenda. The NCR grew complacent and it was all the overlord needed to snap shut a well hidden trap.

But such machinations were beyond two men as they walked a forlorn road. They had already done their bit for the story and walked several hundred miles more than they cared to. Boone decided it was time to go back to Novac. He would have plenty of time to contemplate what he saw in the lonely jaws of that dinosaur.

Eli? He was glad to disappear into the Mojave sands. He could speak his full name now. In fact, he whispered it to Rene's grave before he left because he never did get to tell her what it was though he remembered she had asked what seemed like an eternity ago. He was certain that wherever she was, she heard it.

"My name is Eli Graham."


End file.
